IXC-Webmaster

This past weekend our boys and girls in orange and white temporarily abandoned their moniker of ITC, and took upon themselves the noble mantle of ‘”armory'” in honor of their training center because of a technical glitch, and competed at the Jim Green Invitational at Illinois College. In the process, they fulfilled an Ancient Prophecy handed down by the Ancient Prophet Knotreel during the long lost Time of Founding:

When the Indy Team o” Corn discards their normal monikor in favor of their Place o” Training, then shall Queue Ech (with an ”e”) break the record set by Eff Aye. So too, shall the Daughter of Murphy break the record that does not exist, and immediately after jump three times, and she shall jump three times (inside) farther than any other ITC three jumper (inside). Finally, there shall be at this place of Ovals the fastest two-by-four (inside) in the history of the club.



This prophecy has baffled ITC scholars for countless years, until this past Saturday when it was fulfilled, and it all became clear:

Quenten (with an ”e”) Hardawy broke the Indoor 60m record (previously held by Fuad Akinbiyi) with a time of 07.07 seconds.

Erin Murphy broke the 60m dash record with a time of 08.38 seconds. The whole ‘”record that does not exist'” comes from the fact that your Friendly Neighborhood Webmaster put into the database an incorrect time of 08.39 due to an error in the results of last week”s Titan Open. He never deleted it, because he hasn”t yet gotten around to adding functionality to the results database for editing erroneously entered entries.

Erin Murphy also set the indoor Triple Jump record with a jump of 10.01 meters.

The last line about two-by-fours really confused ITC scholars seeing as how trees can”t run even when they”re alive, let alone after being chopped down and turned into building materials. However, after the men”s 4x200m relay team broke the club record with a time of 1:32.40, it became clear that Knotreel just got his numbers mixed up (happens to the best of us).

Now for personal record time:
Jayme Roberts had a PR in the 60m dash with a time of 07.34.
Beau Barber had an Indoor PR in the 400m with a time of 56.28.
Ben Kanevsky had an Indoor PR in the 200m with a time of 24.39.

And last but not least, Tare Emuze and Abby Ralph both had their first meet with the club this past weekend. Welcome to the club. Hope you had fun, and if you didn”t, well, I hope you have fun next week (or the week after that, or the week after that, or…).

As a final thought: 5K. Indoors. Apparently, that”s a thing. Think about that for a second. Not only do people running a 5K indoors have to run for a ridiculously long time at a ridiculously high speed, but they also have to count to 25. In their heads. While running really fast. I can”t count up to 25 when I”m sitting in a comfy chair and with full access to my fingers and toes (which alas, only go up to 20). If two weeks ago, you”d have told me that a more horrible race exists than the 600m, I would have laughed in your face. Now, I am not so sure.

Anyway, my hat”s off to Victoria Knauf, Joe Zeller, Matt Birkel, and Adam Sukiennik for having such supreme confidence in their ability to keep a mental tally while exhausted. You deserve all the cookies, and like half the ice cream.

This past weekend, the team went to two separate meets: the 2014 Titan Open, and the SPIRE Midwest Indoor Track and Field Open.

Titan Open Results

Unsurprisingly considering the high quality of the SPIRE track, two records were broken at the SPIRE meet:
Jack Skelton broke the Men”s Indoor 400m dash record with a time of 49.32.
He also broke the Men”s Indoor 200m record with a time of 22.33.

We also had a record broken at the Titan Open:
Lauren Jonen broke the Women”s 60m dash record with a time of 8.53 seconds…
Only to have that same record broken a few heats later by Erin Murphy with a time of 8.51 seconds.
Of course, Lauren also broke the record for the shortest amount of time in which an ITC club member has ever held a record. So who knows, maybe it was Lauren who won in the end.

Meanwhile, we also had several personal records this past weekend.
Ryan Brewster continued his streak of earning new 200m and 400m PR”s this weekend, with a time of 50.61 in the 400m and 22.77 in the 200m.
Jayme Roberts ran an indoor PR in the 200m with a time of 23.85

Finally, we have a whole lot of people who ran their first ITC races this past weekend:
Mike Kreiser(who spoiled himself by running at SPIRE. Alas, Mike not every facility is as nice as that), Ernesto Garcia, JP Llinas, Deepak Mani, Steven Decker, Jack Morrissey, Selena Wallace, Kim Naples, and last but certainly not least, Erin O”Donnell. Welcome to the team everyone. May your spikes never fall off in the middle of a race, and may your uniform never be forgotten.

Next week, the team is off to Illinois College, where the turns are tight, and the competition fierce. Wish them luck!

The Illinois Track Club began its indoor season last Saturday (January 25) with a meet at Eastern Illinois University. It was full to bursting with people running in circles, jumping around, and throwing heavy things. Results can be found here

Several of our athletes ran (indoor) personal records.

Note: The following information is based on the results database. Therefore, if anything I say is incorrect, please let me know at illinoistfclub+webmaster@gmail.com, and I will update the database appropriately.

Evan White PR”ed by 4 seconds in the indoor mile, with a time of 4:30.90
Beth McGreal PR”d by 10 seconds in the indoor mile, with a time of 5:29.03.
Joe Zeller ran an indoor PR in the 3000m by about 13 seconds with a time of 9:09.12.
Kevin Hearne ran a new indoor PR in the 800m with a time of 2:10.92, PR”ing by 6 seconds.
Scott Luedtke PR”d by about 9 seconds in the 600m.
Jayme Robers ran a 200m Indoor PR by .1 seconds with a time of 24.09.
Ryan Brewster had a really excellent meet. He ran an Indoor and Outdoor PR in both the 400m and 200m. He ran a 52.36 in the 400m, breaking a previous Outdoor PR of 52.9. He ran a 23.33 in the 200m, breaking a previous Outdoor PR of 23.59.

Finally, we have three runners who ran their very first races for ITC at EIU: Michael Giocolo, Shannon Sledz, and Ima Eno. Get out while you can Welcome to the team! I hope you experience much pain joy while training and racing with us.

However, special condolences need to be extended to Ima. Her very first race with ITC was the 600m, the Most Painful Race in Existence^TM. I”m thinking someone should give her a cookie (make sure to ask her what her favorite kind is first).

Anyway, our next meets are this Saturday, February 1st. Some of us will be going to Illinois Wesleyan University, while the Truly Crazy Dedicated will be going all the way out to the SPIRE institute in Ohio. Good luck everyone! Run fast, jump long/high, throw far, and most of all have some fun.

The Illinois Cross Country Club finished the season this past weekend, at the NIRCA National Championships in Hershey, Pennsylvania.  The men finished 5th in the team scoring, while the women finished a mere 12 points out of the podium, taking 4th.

Beth McGreal was the first Illinois finisher in 12th place, running a time of 23:15  for the hilly 6 kilometer course.  Megan McGreal joined her as a 1st team NIRCA All-American, finishing in 23:24, to take 15th place.  Emma Grimes and Megan Mocogni took 2nd team NIRCA All-American honors, finishing in 22nd place and 26th place, in times of 23:55 and 24:09 respectively.  5th for the team was Heather Guettermann, in 49th place with a time of 24:49.

On the men”s side, Jim Riddle led the way, running 26:32 for the 8K to take 14th over all and a 1st team NIRCA All-American distinction.  Mark Donohue followed in 21st place, good enough for 2nd team NIRCA All-American.  Senior Matt Birkel ran 27:17 to finish 43rd, while Evan White and Jared Ripoli rounded out the scoring five running 27:30 (51st) and 27:31 (52nd) respectively.

Results

It was a beautiful day for a cross country invitational this Saturday, as the Illinois Cross Country Club hosted the NIRCA Great Plains Regional at the University of Illinois Arboretum.  The women”s team claimed their fourth straight regional title, while the men”s team was 2nd, in the final race before NIRCA Cross Country Nationals.

Megan McGreal ran her best race of the season to claim the individual runner-up spot, in a time of 23:05.6 for the 6K.  Beth McGreal finished 3rd, running 23:24.0, followed by Megan Mocogni and Emma Grimes, who finished 5th and 6th in times of 23:36.3 and 23:42.7 respectively.  Rounding out the scoring 5 for the team was Michelle Turner, running 24:40.1, good enough for 8th place over all.

Despite coming up short in the team battle, the men”s team still turned in some good performances.  Mark Donohue led the team with a 5th place finish, finishing the 8K course in 25:56.1.  Jim Riddle (8th, 26:11.7), Eric De Guevara (9th, 26:32.2), Jared Ripoli (10th, 26:33.5), and Evan White (11th, 26:44.2) swept the 8th through 11th spots to complete the team scoring for the men.

Next up is the final race of the season, the 2013 NIRCA Cross Country Nationals in Hershey, PA, on November 16th.  The women”s team looks to build on their strong regional performance, and a 7th place finish last year on the difficult course, while the men will try and rebound from their runner-up finish this weekend, and improve on last year”s 4th place finish.

Results

The University of Illinois will be co-hosting the 2013 National Intercollegiate Running Club Association Great Plains Regional this Saturday, November 2nd, at the University of Illinois Arboretum, located at 1800 South Lincoln Avenue, Urbana, IL.

Schedule: Registration and bib pick-up begins at 8:30 AM, followed by a Race Meeting at 9:00 AM.  The women”s 6K race will start promptly at 10:00 AM, with the men”s 8K starting at 11:00 AM.  Awards and a pizza social will conclude the days activities at 12:15 PM.

Course: Course information and maps are available.  The race will utilize the normal 6K and 8K courses, NOT the ‘”Championship'” layouts.

Parking: Team Parking is located in Lot F31 off of Lincoln Avenue at St. Mary”s Road. Public parking is located along Lincoln Avenue.

For full race information, including race coordinator contact, visit the NIRCA Great Plains Webpage.

Mark Donohue and Emma Grimes were the top Illinois finishers for the men and women respectively, this weekend at the Lucian Rosa Invitational, hosted by the University of Wisconsin at Parkside.

Mark Donohue”s time of 26:21.4 was good enough for 39th place, at the hilly 8K course.  Freshman Jared Ripoli was close behind, running 26:26.4 for 48th place, while Eric De Guevara ran 26:38.1 to finish 59th.   Rounding out the scoring five were Matt Birkel in 77th with a time of 26:48.7 and Evan White in 83rd with a time of 26:59.7.  Meanwhile, Greg Netols made his return into the top 7, running 27:58.4, to continue his comeback from injury.

Emma Grimes finished 70th over all, in a time of 19:18.6, the third fastest 5K time in club history.  Megan Mocogni finished 2nd for the team, running an outstanding race to finish 83rd, setting the fourth fastest 5K time in club history at 19:25.4.  She was followed by Beth McGreal (100th, 19:37.4), Megan McGreal (107th, 19:42.1), and Michelle Turner (136th, 20:05.0).

The Illinois Cross Country club team will host the NIRCA Midwest Regional on November 2nd, and hope to defend their home turf.

Results

The Illinois Cross Country Club had strong performances Friday (Oct. 4) evening, sending partial squads to compete at the Illinois Wesleyan University Titan Invitational.

On the women”s side, Hannah Smith was the top IXC club runner with a time of 21:17.0 to finish 16th over all on the 5K course, followed by Tiffany Lam in 17th place with a time of 21:21.3.  Paige Oboikovitz and Emma Burkhardt took 19th and 20th place with times of 21:39.5 and 21:41.3 respectively, while Hannah Behle rounded out the scoring five, running 21:58.9 for 22nd.

Nathan Smith was the first Illinois finisher, navigating the 8K course in a time of 28:04.2, finishing 6th over all.  The next four Illinois runners finished less then five seconds apart, taking 13th place through 16th place.  Greg Netols led the pack with a time of 28:54.3, followed by David Choi (28:58.1), Dakota Morales (28:58.5), and Sean Bruyere (28:58.8).

The Illinois Cross Country Club will field full squads this Saturday (10/12) at the Lucian Rose Invitational, hosted by the University of Wisconsin at Parkside in Somers, WI.

Full Results

This past weekend, the University of Illinois Cross Country team traveled to Rock Island, IL to participate in the Brissman-Lundeen Invitational, hosted by Augustana College.  The men’s team finish 6^th out of 33 teams and the women’s team finished 9^th out of 33 teams.

Jim Riddle led the men’s team, finishing 8^th in a time of 25:32.9.  Jared Ripoli continued to build on an outstanding freshman year, running 26:09.4 to finish 28^th, while sophomore Eric De Guevara ran 26:14.6, finishing 36^th.  Rounding out the top five were seniors Evan White (45^th, 26:26.3) and Matt Birkel (59^th, 26:35.2).

On the women’s side, Megan McGreal was the first Illini finisher, navigating the 6K course in a time of 23:40.3, to finish 35^th.  Senior Emma Grimes was close behind with a time of 24:01.2, good enough for 45^th.  Seniors Beth McGreal and Michelle Turner finished 72^nd (24:33.5) and 84^th (24:40.8) respectively, while freshman Tiffany Lam made her top seven debut, running 24:29.1, taking 95^th place, and placing 5^th for the team.  Emma Burkhardt (124^th, 25:19.6) was the second new addition to the women’s top seven.

This Friday, the Illinois Cross Country team will send a partial squad on both the men and women’s sides to compete at the Illinois Wesleyan Titan Invitational at Maxwell Park in Normal, IL, while the remainder of the squad will compete at the Lucian Rosa Invitational hosted by the University of Wisconsin at Parkside on October 12^th.

Full Results

Despite hot and humid conditions, the Illinois Club Cross Country team had many impressive performances in both the men”s and women”s races at the Eastern Illinois University Walt Crawford Invitational, this past Friday.

On the men”s side, Joe Zeller ran a 50 second personal record to finish as the team”s first runner, placing 19th over all in a time of 26:42.44.  The remainder of the scoring runners consisted of top freshman Jared Ripoli (23rd, 26:52.95), sophomore Eric De Guevara (24th, 26:53.64), and seniors Matt Birkel (25th, 26:54.23) and Evan White (30th, 27:05.52).  Other outstanding performances included strong 8k debuts by Jack Morrissey, Michael Giberson, and many other club newcomers, and a minute PR by none other than Kevin Hearne.

For the women, Kelsey Kilrea opened her season with a time of 19:31.71 for the 5-kilometer race, good enough for 29th over all.  Returning runners Michelle Turner (46th, 20:06.73), Megan McGreal (47th, 20:07.30), Emma Grimes (52nd, 20:13.58), and Jo Dibuz (20:18.38) rounded out the scoring 5.  Hannah Smith (70th, 21:05.48) was the top freshman finisher for the team, as the women had a total of 12 runners below 22 minutes.

There were too many performances to highlight!  The Illinois Cross Country Club team returns to action on September 27th at the Brissman-Lundeen Invitational.

Full Results